The Future of Consumerist

Over the last twelve years, Consumerist has been a steadfast proponent and voice on behalf of consumers, from exposing shady practices by secretive cable companies to pushing for action against dodgy payday lenders. Now, we’re joining forces with Consumer Reports, our parent organization, to cultivate the next generation of consumer advocacy.

Stay tuned as Consumerist’s current and future content finds its home as a part of the Consumer Reports brand. In the meantime, you can access existing Consumerist content below, and we encourage you to visit Consumer Reports to read the latest consumer news.

Last spring when the first Senate hearings were held regarding AT&T’s pending purchase of T-Mobile USA, the folks at the Death Star repeatedly stated that they weren’t trying to eliminate competition because they don’t view the much smaller T-Mobile as competition. Unfortunately for T-Mobile, having to keep up that charade while AT&T fights the Justice Dept.’s attempt to block the deal could result in the loss of millions of customers.

The problem, reports Bloomberg, is that T-Mobile can’t cut their prices to gain new customers because any price slashing would lend credence to the DOJ’s allegation that T-Mobile’s continued existence helps keep the market competitive.

“Cutting prices at this point would be very difficult because the DOJ has said their strategic importance stems from their role as a price cutter,” says one industry analyst.

Another analyst pointed to customer uncertainty over the deal as a factor that is hurting T-Mobile’s immediate outlook.

“T-Mobile is already in a difficult spot from a consumer perspective,” said the analyst. “People will ask themselves, ‘Am I really going to sign a two-year contract with a company that may be on life support if the deal doesn’t go through?'”

In all, Bloomberg surveyed six analysts to get their predictions on what will happen while the AT&T deal is still looming over everyone’s heads. And between the lack of price cuts and general customer uncertainty, they foresee a tripling in the amount of contract customers T-Mobile loses each month, from 390,000 to 1.2 million. Even the most conservative estimate was still just under 1 million customers lost each month.